Dems could do far more to end Iraq war

“People have made the intellectual distinction between the war and the warrior,” one House Democratic leader told us. “Bush has hidden behind the kids and held us hostage.”

Fair enough. But this calculation does not erase the gaping chasm between the visceral urgency claimed by congressional war opponents and the conventionality of their political strategy in trying to end it.

This is why Democratic activists are growing increasingly agitated.

Galling as it may be to Democrats, Bush still can claim to be acting with more clarity and courage than the congressional majority.

He believes the Iraq war is right and has thrown away things most politicians crave — approval ratings, and potentially his reputation in history — to get what he wants.

Democratic leaders believe the war is wrong but have pursued their beliefs with a series of ginger calculations that so far have achieved no substantive changes in policy.

They are acting with the same defensive-mindedness that led many Democrats to swallow deep misgivings and vote five years ago to authorize the war in the first place.

Many Democrats on Capitol Hill are in no mood just now to be lectured by MoveOn, the group whose ad denouncing “General Betray Us” was widely perceived to have backfired badly.

Whatever one’s view on the merits of the war, however, MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser is right that his ostensible Democratic allies have defined themselves by caution.

“Our view is that they are very strong, they have the public’s support at their backs, and they need to use that strength,” he said. “I think the efforts thus far have been good, but not good enough to put the Republicans on the spot about blocking an end to the war.”

Specifically, he supports forcing Senate Republicans who are trying to block measures to force Bush’s hand on troop withdrawals to back up their filibuster threats in a dramatic showdown on the Senate floor. “Republicans are effectively filibustering, but no one knows it,” he said. “One way to demonstrate what’s going on is to make them stand there and read the phone book.”

Or go on a hunger strike. Or send the entire Democratic leadership to protest in the backyards of wavering lawmakers.

“I would rather use my energy to work intellectually to see if we can find common ground that all Democrats” want, to bring home the troops before Bush leaves office, said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.). “It is not my job to go to members’ districts and have sit-ins.”